Milwaukee School Issues Apology After Racist Homework Assignment

A fourth-grade homework assignment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has raised eyebrows across social media for its egregious task.

USA Today reports that the assignment asked students to write three good reasons for slavery and three bad reasons.

Trameka Brown-Berry went to Facebook to share the assignment to see if other people found it as offensive as she did. Her son, Jerome Berry is a fourth grader that attends Our Redeemer Lutheran School where the assignment was given.

Once it hit Facebook, it immediately went viral with people calling the assignment offensive, wrong and insensitive.

Jim Van Dellen, a school administrator at Our Redeemer Lutheran School, stated in a phone interview that the assignment was an, “unintentionally, poorly worded assignment” and that the school is now, “in active conversations with parents.”

Letters of apology were sent out by the school to the families of the students issued by email.

In a separate Facebook post, Brown-Berry explained that Van Dellen from the school apologized and addressed her concerns.

In a response letter by Van Dellen and Andrew Steinke the principal senior pastor of the school stated:

On behalf of Our Redeemer Lutheran School, we sincerely apologize for the fact that an assignment given to a fourth-grade class yesterday was not clearly explained to students and their parents.

The result was a strong call to action to address the situation. We understand that, as presented, the words used showed a lack of sensitivity and were offensive.The purpose of the assignment was not, in any way, to have students argue that ANY slavery is acceptable — a concept that goes against our core values and beliefs about the equality and worth of people of all races. …

This particular assignment is no longer a part of our curriculum and we are committed to working with our families and our teachers.

“Out of a very negative situation, we were able to take (action) to resolve this issues. That is so beautiful. Thank you,” responded Brown-Berry.